OPERA America draws on resources and expertise from within and beyond the opera field to advance a mutually beneficial agenda that serves and strengthens the field through programs in the following categories:

Creation: Artistic services that help artists and companies increase the creativity and excellence of opera productions, especially North American works;

Presentation: Opera company services that address the specific needs of staff, trustees and volunteers;

Enjoyment: Education, audience development and community services that increase all forms of opera appreciation.

New York City is home to the nation’s largest concentration of performing and creative artists, professional training institutions and music businesses. A majority of OPERA America’s Professional Company Members hold or attend auditions in New York City annually, and opera leaders from Europe and around the world are regular visitors.

In response to the pressing need for appropriate space in New York by members who suffered from the lack of good audition and work facilities in the city, OPERA America created the National Opera Center. The Opera Center serves many functions that support the artistic and economic vitality of the field by providing its constituents with a range and level of services never before possible.

OPERA America serves the entire opera field through research, publications and services. We work daily to facilitate the creation, performance and enjoyment of opera throughout North America. Much of what we do is made possible through generous contributions from opera lovers like you.

In November 2007, Houston Grand Opera presented the
world premiere of The Refuge, a large-scale oratorio in which
community performers joined the Houston Grand Opera
chorus, orchestra, children’s chorus and members of the HGO
Studio in a musical portrait of Houston’s rich cultural diversity.
The project was not only a continuation of the company’s
commitment to creating new work for the stage; it marked the
beginning of a new effort to establish Houston Grand Opera as
a vital cultural resource for the people of Houston. HGOco is
the name given to a diversified menu of community programs,
ranging from teacher workshops to a high school voice studio.
Within HGOco, Song of Houston is a series of collaborative
artistic projects — beginning with The Refuge — designed to
explore the stories of Houston and the people who live and
work there.

Shirin Herman, who handles refugee services for the Houston
Independent School District, began working with HGOco
during the development process for The Refuge. “They
were collecting refugee stories, and I told them about this
family from the Congo.” Herman accompanied Leah Lax,
the librettist, on a visit to the family. “It was a very difficult
conversation. Recounting that kind of horrendous story is
depressing. Then we were leaving and I asked the kids what
they wanted to be, and one said a singer, so I asked if they
could sing for us.” The performance was so impressive that the
family was invited to be a part of the production.

The Refuge tells the stories of different ethnic communities in
Houston. While cultural diversity is a subject on the minds
of many arts organizations, HGOco Manager Sue Elliott is
careful to point out that Song of Houston has an even broader
agenda. “I think it is really important that we look at all of the
different kinds of stories we can tell. For us to limit it to ethnic
exploration is in itself a kind of tokenism.” So, for example,
HGOco plans to present a work in partnership with Emergency
Services to commemorate the 10th anniversary of September11.
“We want to artistically celebrate the wonderful work the
people of Emergency Services do every day in Houston.”

“No project happens without a lot of research and one-on-one
contact,” says Sandra Bernhard, director of HGOco. “We meet
with people to learn what is happening. What is the story? Who
are the important people? We are invested in hearing the story
and then telling the story.”

Elliott spends a much of her time speaking with a wide range of
Houstonians, from representatives of underserved communities
to academics. “I have to know a lot before I begin these
conversations. We are asking people to share their personal
stories. So if I am speaking to a member of the Taiwanese
community, I would lose a lot of credibility if I didn’t know
anything about their political history and, in this instance,
Chiang Kai-shek. I need to do my homework before I expect
anyone to trust me.”

This season, Song of Houston is exploring the development of
the blues through several parallel projects. Graduate students in
creative writing at University of Houston worked with senior
citizens in Houston’s Third Ward, a historic African-American
community, to help the seniors write lyrics. The lyrics are
being set by composers from the Shepherd School of Music
at Rice University. HGOco also hired a writer and composer
to interview community builders from the African-American
community. The material gathered by this creative team will
form the basis of musical portraits that will be performed in
concert, along with the songs written by the composition
students and seniors.

For the 75th anniversary of Kristallnacht, HGOco will create
songs and song cycles that talk about state-sponsored prejudice
of all kinds, such as segregation and apartheid. “I like the
idea of songs and song cycles, partially because they are more
portable. We can take them into hundreds of venues around
the city,” says Elliott.

Performances outside the opera house are key feature of Song
of Houston. Herman, who notes that there was some initial
skepticism about the opera company’s motivation for reaching
out, says that the community performances helped demonstrate
the company’s “genuineness and sincerity. Before The Refuge
was complete, there were performances at an African restaurant,
in homes, in party halls. This led to a general feeling that they
genuinely wanted to hear and then tell our stories, that is not
just a commercial endeavor.”

“Our investment in HGOco has almost nothing to do
with generating future ticket income — though, naturally,
we try to interest everyone we encounter in coming to our
performances,” says General Director and CEO Anthony
Freud. “If we try to justify our investment in HGOco in that
way, we will fail. There are more cost-efficient ways to generate
new ticket buyers. This investment has to do with redefining
why we exist. To be relevant to our multi-cultural city, we must
do more than put on great performances in our opera house.
We must take our company out of the opera house into the
community. But we are not simply arriving in a Pakistani or
a Vietnamese community, for example, saying we think you
should like opera. We have to think about the way we can use
our art form to build bridges. The essence of opera is the telling
of stories through words and music. That is utterly universal.”

HGOco staff have learned that it is important not to make
assumptions as they plan projects. The company is currently
developing a Mariachi piece, working with members of the
local Mexican and Mexican-American community. As with
other projects, they wanted to go beyond the opera house and
present performances in venues familiar to those communities.
“When we asked them where they went to see concerts, they all
said, ‘The Wortham Center, the Toyota Center,’” says Elliott.
“I was working really hard to find alternate venues, but we feel
it will be appropriate to premiere this project in the Cullen
Theater at the Wortham.”

Leonard Foglia will write the book, design and direct the
project, working in collaboration José “Pepe” Martínez, music
director of the famed Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán. While
the 113-year-old Mariachi band is firmly rooted in tradition,
the tradition is an evolving one, according to Elliott. “When
Pepe took over as music director, he introduced the idea of
individual solos, like those in a jazz concert.” The piece will
employ a traditional 13-piece Mariachi band, which will be
integrated into the action onstage. “In Mexico, mariachi music
accompanies every important event, from birth to courtship,
from a wedding to a funeral. We don’t have the equivalent in
the U.S., a kind of music that is part of your whole life.”

As HGOco began working with Foglia to develop the piece,
they sought out stories from the Mexicans and Mexican-
Americans living in Houston. “We have three women in our
costume shop from Guadalajara, and Lenny wanted to spend
time with them. They talked about the difficulty of living in
two worlds and not belonging to either.”

While Foglia will create the overall narrative structure,
Martínez will write both music and lyrics. “It seems like the
logical thing,” says Foglia. “I think the essential voice of the
piece has to be Mexican. Mariachi music has to be sung in
Spanish. That doesn’t mean there won’t be some English at
some point, but I wanted two-thirds — if not more — of
actual voice of piece to be authentically Mexican. My job
is to create a story that is specific to the Mexican-American
experience, but also universal. That is hopefully what all drama
does — by getting specific, you are universal. My family came

how to order the abortion pill online abortion pill abortion pill online

To have your company’s photos included in the header rotation, send photos that are at least 1200px wide and 550px tall to Webmaster@operaamerica.org. Please note that submission of photos does not guarantee inclusion.